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Brynn and Juraviel rode in virtual silence for oblin band Despite Juraviel&039;s cutting words and sound reasoning, Brynn could not let go of her anger toward the elf for what he had done to her, for what he had forced from her For he had made her kill, had taken her out of their way so that she could feel her blade sinking deep into the heart of an enemy, so that she could smell spilled blood and see the stains, so that she could witness death at her own hands, horrible in a way that she had never known

Brynn Dharielle had witnessedof the Behrenese

She had witnessed the h to hear the screa could be more terrible than that!

But this last experience was troubling and horrible in a different way This time she had been forced into the role of assassin, and the s, and with a siz-able auilt attached

Belli&039; hollow in Brynn&039;s ears as the pairthe southern trails For more than a week, they went about their duties with hardly a word ex-changed They each kneas expected of the watch throughout the night Every now and then, Juraviel would offer a friendly corunt or a halfhearted chuckle

Things began to warain between them the second week When Ju-raviel offered a sarcastic or teasing coive him back one of her own, and by the end of the second week, the pair had even traded exchanges longer than single sentences

"The Belt-and-Buckle," Juraviel said to her near the end of the third week after the goblin fight, when Brynn walked Diredusk up beside hiradually from the forest, but dropped off dramatically before them Below, the forest spread wide and thick; and, far to the south, they could see the jagged outline of distant mountains

Far distant, and Juraviel was quick to dahtened look that arne over the woe are h them once," Brynn reminded ?And I walked their southern slopes"

"When you were a child, so o that you hardly remember the truth of their scope"

"I saw them every day when I was a child, and froe point!"

"Indeed," Juraviel replied ?Much, much closer We can see them, and each day they will seem a little taller

But just a little, and by the tih above us that they will block out the sun itself Our road is far fro to the south To her sur-prise, her irritation at JuravieFs words could not take hold No, Brynn ap-preciated Juraviel at that moment, more so perhaps than she had since their departure fro with their goal soht and yet still so far away, did Brynn truly understand the sacrifice that herup months and months, years even, away froain that Brynn could see, however ai-ru over the Behrenese When Ju-raviel returned hoed to stay alive throughout the war and return home, the daily routines, the daily joys and sorrows of his existence would not be dependent upon whether or not Brynn had prevailed in To-gai What did it truly ai-ru or the Behrenese ruled the windy steppes of that far-distant land?

And yet, here he was, unco her to her destiny

Brynn stooped a bit and draped her arm across Juraviel&039;s small shoulders He turned a curious expression toward her, and she smiled in response and kissed him on the cheek, and then, when he returned her s her appreciation, silently explaining to him - and she knew that he understood - that she at last understood and appreciated that she could not possibly make this journey without him

That was the truth that Brynn Dharielle realized, standing there on that varh her dark, silken lair And as she had grown on that day of her dark epiphany, when she had learned what it was to kill, so she believed that she had grown even e of her ood leader understood her enemies

A better leader understood, and appreciated, her allies

The days blended together, but with each dawn Brynn noted that the mountains did indeed seem taller, if only just a bit She tried to put it out of heras anxious as if those mountains were not just the landmark that would lead into her land, but ai itself

One day on the road, with Brynn leaning forward eagerly, her body lan-guage speaking clearly to the fact that she believed her final goal was al-ready in sight, and almost in hand, Belli&039;ood that we make the foothills of the Belt-and-Buckle before mid-summer," he said casually ?For then we have a chance, at least, of finding our way through the divide before the winter snows begin"

Brynn&039;s expression as she turned to regard him was one of curiosity and confusion

"For winter will coh passes," Juraviel explained ?Oh, down here, amidst the trees and this far south, I doubt the snows ever pile very deep, or indeed, if it ever snows at all But note that the caps of the h summer nears its h, and not very late into the winter season, before we find the passes fully blocked

"Of course, that is assuri tellingly ?You do not know the way through?" she asked, alasp ?But you were there - or your people were - barely a decade ago! When you rescued otten the way already!"

"Lady Dasslerond was the one who rescued you," Juraviel explained ?She has ways, with her gereat distances quickly When she had you in tow, though you remember it not, she and her attendants lulled you to sleep, then used the power of the emerald stone to turn a hun-dred miles into a short walk"

"Then why didn&039;t Dasslerond do the sa now?" Brynn demanded ?We could have saved weeks of travel! And theh them!"

"The road is preparation for the trials at its end"

Brynn snorted, obviously not iuh the mountains? Do we sit in their shadows and share dreams that we know cannot co Lady Dasslerond to do that which she should have done before?"

That last statelare of disapproval that re the Touel&039;alfar she should not cross

She pressed on anyway, but in e ?My people are enslaved

Every day that we tarry is another day of nisery for the To-gai-ru The revolution could be taking place by now"

ge]Ji&039; that she was being mocked, narrowed her brown eyes